Tasty Tuesday

I searched long and hard for a good chicken pot pie recipe that didn't call for some type of cream soup, since cream soups are dairy. This recipe is pretty much amazing! The original recipe calls for mushrooms, and although I'm a HUGE mushroom fan, I did not think they went well with this pot pie. I also added some green veggies into the recipe just for some color. :) I confess that half of the time I end up using a frozen veggie blend and then adding my own potatoes. It just depends on what I have and how much time I have. The other night I made this using left over turkey from Thanksgiving, and it was really good.

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup lard

6 tablespoons cold water

Filling
1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

3 cups chicken broth

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped

2 carrot, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup frozen green beans or peas

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut in lard until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Roll one ball out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place bottom crust in pie plate. Roll out top crust and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C.)
3. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Blend in flour, salt, pepper and onion. Gradually stir in chicken broth. Cook, stirring constantly until smooth and thickened. In a separate pan, saute mushrooms in 3 tablespoons of butter, then stir into saucepan. Stir in chicken, carrot, celery and potatoes. Mix well and pour into bottom pie crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown, and filling is bubbly.

NOTE: I just make my crust at the time I'm making the meal, rather than keeping in the fridge over night. Having it cold makes it a little easier to roll, but you can just put it in the fridge while you're chopping your veggies and mixing everything up.

I have done a few variations on this recipe. The other night I had not potatoes, so I just did two cups of chicken broth instead of three, so that the filling wasn't too runny.

MAKE AHEAD: This is one of my staple, make-ahead meals. I will make up a double batch of this at the beginning of the month. Somehow, this ends up easily making three pies. I split the filling into three quart-sized freezer bags, and put it in the freezer. My husband likes the crust only on top, so on the day I'm ready to serve, I make my crust. I put the frozen mix in the pan (the ziploc bags will easily rip down the side so you can get the block out) and pre-heat the mix with the oven. Once it is thawed, I lay the crust over top and bake per instructions. If you want a crust on the top and bottom, you can thaw the mix in the fridge during the day.

This meal is one of the easiest ways to get my three-year-old to eat veggies without hiding them in a meal!